


River Styx, Carry Me Home

by pizzabunzzz



Category: LazyTown
Genre: Explicit Language, Fluff, I'll add tags as I write it out, M/M, Magic, Pre-Relationship, Relationship(s), Slow Burn, Sportacus is caught off guard by how gay he is, Sportacus is easily flustered and Robbie uses that to it's full potential, but i gotsta build it up first, elf sportacus, sportarobbie, this will probably eventually maybe someday turn into pron
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-13
Updated: 2017-02-03
Packaged: 2018-09-17 04:31:59
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9304388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pizzabunzzz/pseuds/pizzabunzzz
Summary: Sportacus hasn't seen Robbie in a few days, so he ventures to his lair to check up on him. What he finds, safe to say, is pleasantly surprising.Slow Burn Sportarobbie because I have been consumed.





	1. Chapter 1

The morning was brisk. The breeze was gentle and caressing and felt delightful against Sportacus' flushed skin and he could just feel, deep in his bones, that the day would be yet another glorious one.  

While Lazytown wasn't the most active or lively town he had ever lived in, it was without a doubt his favorite. He wasn't really sure why he loved the sleepy little town so much, being a creature that needed exercise and social interaction to survive you'd think he would thrive in a bigger city, and a vast majority of his fellow Sports Elves did, but something about it just felt like home for him.  

As he jogged along the empty streets, the sun just starting to break over the horizon and throwing artful splashes of rosy pink and orange-red across the sky, he contemplated the people he had come to know and love in his time here.  

His mind first lept to Stephanie, his faithful friend in all things good and heroic. While she was first and foremost one of his dearest friends, he had also come to think of her as his adopted daughter, and thought of her with the kind of love and devotion usually reserved for beloved kin. He was positive in his decision that, should anything happen to him and his ability to carry on as Sports Elf/Slightly-above-average Hero, he could count on her to take his place. It was a heavy burden to place on a human but he could see the pureness of her soul in her eyes and he knew the moment he had made the decision that it was the right one.  

His thoughts then jumped to the gaggle of kids that seemed to always surround the pink haired girl and he couldn't help but smile. Ziggy with his infectious energy and Stingy who was a bit possessive and argumentative but had a good heart. Then there was Pixel who never failed to astound Sportacus with the level of his intelligence, despite his young age. And finally, Trixie who rivaled even Robbie Rotten in her cunning and mischievous nature.  

Coming to halt at the edge of a crossroads in town, he took a moment to think on the nefarious villain. Now that he was on his mind, Sportacus thought on the last time the trickster had shown his face around town and was concerned to realize it had almost been a week. Thinking even harder he tried to remember if any of the times his crystal had glowed in the past week had tried to direct him in the direction of Robbie's lair, but couldn't think of any time it had. He debated with himself, looking to his right at the path that would lead him back to the center of town, and then to his left to the path that would lead him to the outskirts of town and subsequently towards Robbie's lair entrance. It was still early in the morning and he didn't want to risk disturbing Robbie so early, considering his hunch that the other man rarely got a good night's rest.  

But his concern over Robbie's lack of presence in town outweighed his concern about potentially waking him from what little sleep he got, and with a loud huff Sportacus started jogging left towards the edge of town.  

Sportacus' version of jogging probably could be classified as running, by human standards at least. His compact stature and strength allowed him to travel at twice the speed of a normal human's jogging pace, but with half the effort. Because of this, he made it to Robbie's "secret" lair entrance before the sun had peeked halfway over the horizon.  

Upon opening up the hatch, he was greeted with a gentle kiss of warm air and he could just barely hear what sounded like music creeping up the long shute down to Robbie's home. With a little hop he jumped into the shute and pulled the hatch lid down with him before letting go and dropping down the dark tube, hitting the ground on the balls of his feet with a soft thud.  

He would have been concerned about being too noisy and possibly waking Robbie, but the music blasting from the speakers in the underground lair seemed to cancel out any noise that Sportacus might have made. He didn't recognize the song but after listening for a brief moment, and picking apart the many layers, he recognized the steady thrum of the base guitar and the beat of the drum pumping the song along like a beating heart without being too overbearing. What he didn't recognize was the most prominent sound, an electric noise that sounded strange to his elf ears. It wasn't unpleasant to listen to, and Sportacus found himself softly bobbing his head along to the strange music. It was upbeat and made the constant itch to move at the back of his mind flare to life, demanding he move his body and melt into the music.  

Pushing the itch to dance away, he creeped around the large island in the middle of the room that held all of Robbie's infamous disguises. With a soft chuckle he thought of all the times Robbie had attempted to thwart Sportacus with his over-the-top schemes and devices, and had come up short. Sportacus had originally thought Robbie's constant interfering would become tiresome but he had grown to enjoy the back and forth game they played with each other, the hero and the villain, and that made his concern over Robbie's recent disappearance bring to the forefront of his mind the whole reason he was here. To make sure Robbie was ok.  

With new determination he poked his head around the disguise chambers to see if he was at the other end of his lair.  

What he found was both completely predictable, and entirely unexpected.  

Sportacus was not surprised to find Robbie working on a new machine he was sure was meant to be part of his next "Master Plan" to get him to leave LazyTown. What was so surprising was the way Robbie looked. He wasn't in his normally pristine striped suit, styled pompadour, and manicured nails.  

For one thing, he was elbow deep in grease and oil stains from the machine he was working on. His hands were almost completely blackened and his normally pale skin was shaded darker from grime all the way to his biceps. His hair was also a tangled mess, with not a drop of styling gel in sight, revealing soft curls that fell over and framed his face perfectly. The second thing was his attire, which consisted of a tight fitting grey t-shirt and faded blue jeans with a dark red rag hanging out of the back pocket. Each piece was also covered in grease and grime, and the outfit hugged his frame _perfectly_.  

What could only be described as a flash of lightning careened down Sportacus' spine and settled into a warm tingle deep in his abdomen. He had to clamp his teeth down with more force than he cared to admit just to keep himself from _whining_ and revealing his presence to the other man.  

The shirt stuck to his biceps like a second skin and revealed that Robbie was not lanky like Sportacus had originally thought, but actually had a lean strength to his frame that was easily hidden under his normal attire. And his jeans... gods above damn him but the way his jeans hugged his hips and that pert little ass of his was almost obscene. A deep blush began to creep up his chest and face and he felt himself breathing harder than should be necessary as his desire to dig his fingers into the soft looking flesh of his ass became almost too much to bear.  

Sportacus couldn't tear his eyes away from Robbie so instead he forced his eyes closed and took a few deep breaths to get himself back under control before he did something he'd regret later. He was just about back to normal when Robbie broke his concentration.  

He started to sing.  

Sportacus' eyes snapped open almost painfully and he was rooted to the ground as he watched Robbie put on a show for him without even knowing it.  

Swaying his hips back and forth with more grace than he thought Robbie possible of, he raised what looked like an adjustable wrench to his mouth like a microphone, lips sensuously curled into a smirk, and began to sing along to the lyrics of the song that was still blasting through the speakers.  

 _Well I'm so tired of losing, I got nothing to do and all day to do it!_    
_I'd go out cruising but I've got no place to go, and all night to get there!_  

As Robbie got more and more into his private concert his movements got more exaggerated and eventually he was full out dancing, moving his hips and feet to the upbeat tune with an energy that shocked Sportacus. He'd never seen Robbie so active in all the time he'd known him.  

 _Is it any wonder I'm not a criminal?_  

Sportacus was about to snort at that but Robbie beat him to it, pausing in his dancing and yelling, "Oh wait, I am! HA!" before bouncing his way back to his project and continuing his work, still swaying his hips to the music. Sportacus thought he was safe from any more unexpected dancing outbursts from the villain and was about to gather what little self control he had left and leave until the music began to swell and a guitar solo broke through, causing Robbie to pause his work again. Sportacus watched, warmth swelling once again in his abdomen but also in his chest this time, as the mechanic used the same adjustable wrench as a makeshift guitar, moving his dexterous fingers along the handle as if he were the source of the complicated pattern of notes coming from the speakers.  

Robbie was spinning around as he shredded out the notes on his wrench-guitar, and when the solo ended Robbie ceased his spinning, breathing heavily and facing straight toward where Sportacus was frozen, still half peeking around the disguise chambers.  

Their eyes met and Sportacus's heart stopped. He'd been caught.  

It took a few seconds for Robbie to come down from his music high and realize he'd had an audience. As the information slowly processed in his mind, and Robbie finally realize who it was that had saw his dancing, his face paled to a concerning shade of white before bursting into a deep crimson so fast that it looked almost painful. He clutched his wrench to his chest in a protective gesture, his eyes so wide that there was white surrounding the entirety of his irises, and choked out a startled gasp.  

"Sportacus!" 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heeeyyyyyyyyyy,
> 
> Thanks for reading! If you liked it leave a Kudos or a comment! :D
> 
> This is my first fic on AO3 so yay! My beta reader hasn't perused this yet so if you find any glaring spelling mistakes or grammatical errors please don't hesitate to let me know! My sentences tend to run off on their own :'D
> 
> Thanks again!
> 
> P.S. I'll name the songs I quote in this fic as I go but if anyone's curious about the lyrics in this chapter, they're from Too Much Time On My Hands by Styx. Ya'll should give it a listen cuz it's totally a Robbie song. And yes the title is a pun. *thumbs up*


	2. Chapter 2

It seemed like an eternity had passed with both of them staring at the other, their faces mirrored in their redness, before Robbie broke eye contact and stomped over to the radio on his work counter, slamming the off button and killing the music.  

When he turned around, his face was still red but Sportacus could tell this shade of red was different. Robbie was pissed.  

"Why are you here?" He growled out, sending a murderous glare towards the sports elf.  

Sportacus took a small step forward and reached out his hands in a gesture of peace. "Please, Robbie, let me exp-" 

" _Why. Are. You. Here_?" Each word was punctuated with a verbal period and left no room for anything other than a direct answer.  

Sportacus looked down at his feet in embarrassment and took a shaky breath in an effort to slow down his racing heart. He truly felt bad about invading Robbie's privacy, but even more than that he was mortified at his own body's reaction to the current situation. Even though the previous mood had been killed entirely, and Sportacus could physically feel the anger and embarrassment rolling off Robbie in waves, the tingling warmth in his abdomen had grown since he'd been caught and with every word Robbie spit out at him, Sportacus could actually feel something south of his abs  _twitch_.  

He was so confused by his body's reactions that it was a massive effort just to think of the reply that Robbie was still waiting for. 

"I.. Uh.. I-I’m sorry Robbie for.. I.. I-I just wanted to make sure.. Oh gosh Robbie I-I'm so sorry.." He knew he wasn't making any sense but the mixture of mortification, what felt like arousal, and confusion at his own reactions was making it hard to put complete sentences together. He folded his hands in front of what he realized with a start was the beginnings of an erection in an effort to cover it without being obvious about it.  

When Robbie didn't reply to his stuttered apologies, Sportacus looked up just enough to peek at his face, and immediately regretted it. While his magic could still feel the anger pulsing from where Robbie stood, his face held a different tone entirely. Robbie's eyes were narrowed and he was studying him, piercing him and pulling him apart and all the sudden Sportacus felt utterly exposed. He wasn't really sure what emotion his face was showing but Robbie locked eyes with him and Sportacus was nailed to the ground, completely helpless as Robbie looked him up and down at his own leisure and searched for an answer to Sportacus' obvious discomfort and awkwardness.  

When their eyes locked again, Sportacus was confused by the look that Robbie's face held. While the anger was still there pounding at Sportacus' magical senses like a drum, Robbie's face was mostly neutral with just a hint of the dangerously curious gleam that Sportacus had come to recognize in his eyes.  

Slowly and deliberately, Robbie moved from his place at his workbench and stalked towards Sportacus without a word. His eyes stayed locked with Sportacus' as he moved closer and closer until he was standing right in front of the elf, now looking down at him. A small part of Sportacus' brain registered that Robbie was intimately close to the him, far closer than conversation required.  

The majority of his brain was trying to process the multitude of emotions and desires that were coursing through his body. His fear at what would result from the mischievous gleam that was in Robbie's eyes, his unbearable desire to simultaneously reach out and tangle his fingers into that curly hair as well as press his body against the long planes of chest in front of him.  

But no matter what emotions and desires raged through him, he couldn't move one millimeter. He was completely and entirely frozen as Robbie finally broke eye contact with him and leaned forward until his lips were almost brushing against one of his overly sensitive ears and murmured, 

"I suggest you abstain from further attempts to spy on me. We wouldn’t want people to jump to conclusions now, would we?"  

It was too much for Sportacus to handle.  

The hot breath kissing his ear, the insinuation of the words, and the subtle but undeniable command in the villains voice; it was all too much and he choked out a small cry that sounded as desperate as he felt.  

With a dark chuckle that blew even more hot and moist air onto Sportacus' burning ear, Robbie finally pulled back, turned around on his heel and walked back in the direction of his workbench, seemingly unfazed by their closeness.  

"Run along Sportaloser. I'm sure there's plenty of hero stuff for you to attend to today." 

And just like that he went right back into his work and didn't pay any more attention to Sportacus as all. It was as if their entire interaction hadn't happened. Somewhat robotically Sportacus turned around and climbed back up the long and narrow shaft that wound it's way back to the surface. When he opened up the hatch he had to squint against the almost blinding sun, which he realized with a start had climbed completely past the horizon and was working it's way up the sky. How long had he been with Robbie? 

Shaking his head he pulled together the tattered remains of his self control and moved to a nearby grassy hill, where he took a few minutes to sit and meditate. He chanted the ancient words of his race until the remains of his arousal had been completely dispersed before getting up and jogging back into town. He couldn't afford to have his attention scattered to the wind when he was with the kids, and vowed to not think on any previous events from the day until the kids had gone home and he was within the safety and privacy of his airship.  

The day passed without much trouble. Ziggy managed to get himself stuck in a tree in an effort to get Sportacus and the rest of the kids some "sportscandy", and Trixie was constantly bickering with Stingy over things he claimed to be his. But all of this was normal for the kids, and Sportacus was thanking the gods above at the end of the day that Robbie hadn't decided to make an appearance. Sportacus wasn't sure he would have been able to act normal.   

Now that he was safe and alone in the familiarity of his airship, he finally let himself analyze the morning's events.  

His thoughts first jumped to the bewildering reactions his body had had to the villain and his actions. He'd never felt anything so _powerful_ towards the man before. He could admit to himself that he found him charming at times and he couldn't deny he had a great ass, but he was his villain. The hero wasn't supposed to be interested in the villain, at least not in that regard.  

Right? 

He tried to think if any of his fellow Sports Elves had admitted to being involved with their villains. He remembered a time when the majority of them thought his predecessor, Íþróttaálfurinn and his villain Glanni had been involved but he couldn't remember if Íþró had ever confirmed that himself or not. It was so long ago he also couldn't remember how the rest of the Sports Elves had reacted to the rumor.  

He shook his head a little violently then and huffed out a breath. He needed to focus. Robbie was his villain but also his friend, and while Robbie himself might not think the same way, Sportacus had come to enjoy the man's presence around town and the fun he created for the kids. He couldn't jeopardize all the good their game of cat and mouse was doing for the town just because Sportacus had seen him in his casual clothes. Although if he were being completely and totally honest with himself, he would admit to catching himself staring at Robbie even in his normal attire. In his mind's eye he saw his long legs and arms covered in his classic striped suit, and paired it with the more recent image of the quiet strength that was hidden beneath. He could imagine the silkiness of the suit fabric, the way Robbie's muscles might roll and stretch when exerted, and if he focused hard enough he could imagine the sound the fabric would make as Sportacus tore it off his body... 

Letting a low growl escape he tore off in the direction of the bathroom, and let the freezing water of his shower wash away the heat his overactive imagination had suddenly brought on.  

It would take constant vigilance on his part to keep himself from desiring anything more than friendship from Robbie. He would have to actively work at reassigning his internal image of him back to it's original role as town villain and friend.  

It was a daunting task but, Sportacus thought with a small smirk, he was nothing if not persistent. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's chapter two! Robbie needs a refresher in personal space :O 
> 
> All of your Kudos and comments from the previous chapter absolutely FLOORED ME and it makes me so happy to know you all like my writing! Seriously it made my week to see all the love everyone expressed for this silly little fic I started <3
> 
> I'm starting to put a general plot idea together in my head but right now I'm just gonna focus on developing dat SportaRobbie because priorities! Also look forward to a fun change next chapter: Robbie POV! *angelic chorus fills the air* 
> 
> Seriously tho I can't thank you all enough for the love you peeps are the best <3


	3. Chapter 3

Robbie considered himself a challenging foe. His creations usually did what he intended them to, his plans were typically complex but never too overwhelming for him to pull off on his own, and he could say without a doubt that he at least created consistent inconveniences to the blue sports maniac he considered his enemy.  

That being said he had utterly failed in his attempt to chase said maniac out of town with blatant embarrassment.  

It was a thing to be said about opportunity that it rarely came when you expected it. Robbie had been working on his latest scheme when the other man had popped in on him unannounced, catching him in a rare moment of vulnerability, and from the moment he had seen Sportacus' obvious embarrassment about being caught the simple but elegant plan had come together nicely in his head. And from then it had been a matter of manipulating the situation to his advantage.  

After taking a moment to contemplate his next move he had strode towards Sportacus, akin to a predator stalking it's prey, and had purposefully moved into his personal space to take full advantage of his height. By then the other man was practically trembling and Robbie couldn’t help but sneer internally at how easy it had been to intimidate him. What happened to the usual self-assuredness that the hero seemed to pulse with?  

It wasn't until Robbie had leaned in to whisper his subtle threat in Sportacus' noticably red ear, and had heard the man keen out a needy whine, that it dawned on him the trembling might not have been in fear, but _anticipation_.  

 _Kinky._  

Robbie was a little shocked at exactly which part of his notoriously devious mind had come to light in response to Sportacus' reactions to him. But with some effort he beat the wicked voice back into the recesses of his mind and took a second to look at this new information from a more logical standpoint. 

In a matter of seconds Robbie's entire scheme adjusted itself to this new information and he couldn't help but chuckle darkly. He debated on his next move for half a second before deciding to pull away and send the man off. If he was going to pull this off, he would need time to plan out his next steps very carefully.  

He ended up giving Sportacus the rest of the day to stew in his own thoughts, more out of the need to sleep after 3 days of non-stop work rather than any sort of mercy. It bothered him that he might be giving the man time to shake off the interaction completely and therefore ruin any chance Robbie would have of embarrassing him right out of town, but he comforted himself with the knowledge that any progress he might make today would surely be ruined when Robbie decided to make an appearance again.  

 He had to admit he was quite confused by Sportacus' strange behavior. Even if it did work to his advantage it didn't make sense; what on Earth could Sportacus ever see in Robbie that might be considered _desirable_?  

The most logical explanation Robbie could fathom was that the sports idiot didn't necessarily desire Robbie, but desired being over-powered. It would make sense from a psychological standpoint; the man was always the strongest and most powerful in normal situations which meant that he must have considered what it would be like to be powerless at least once in his lifetime. Robbie couldn't exactly empathize, knowing full well he preferred being dominant, but upon further consideration he wasn't exactly adverse to the prospect of having those strong arms lift him off the ground only for the rest of that rock hard body to pin him against a wall... 

It was at exactly that moment that his feet decided to commit mutiny and trip him, sending him sprawling against the concrete floor of his bunker.  

Thankfully his knees had cushioned the fall enough that his face didn't hit the floor, sparing him from the decision of whether to put in the effort to cover the resulting bruise or deal with the inevitable questions. With an irritated growl he got up and continued the frantic pacing he had been in the middle of before his mind had wandered down certain.. paths.  

Getting back to the issue at hand he began to brainstorm again. He had tried just about everything under the too-bright sun to use Sportacus' apparent power kink against him and run him out of town. He'd tried to trap him, he'd tried making barely concealed innuendoes in front of the kids and even the other adults in town, he'd even tried grabbing him by the collar of his shirt and pulling him up to his snarling face but nothing had embarrassed him to the point of leaving.  

The worst part about it was that Robbie knew for a _fact_ that Sportacus was reacting to him. He could see it in the way the man's pupils expanded and his breath caught in his throat. When Robbie had pulled him close by his collar he had even let out another small whine which then did wicked things to himself in return, but his reactions were never severe enough to cause the shame that Robbie had been counting on.  

He flopped down in his orange chair and began to idly play with the fur, finding comfort in the repetitive movement. He was quickly running out of clever ideas and each time Robbie tried a new trick on him, Sportacus seemed to be a little more resistant to it. Pretty soon the elf would be back to his usual self and Robbie's window of opportunity would be closed entirely.  

Internally referring to Sportacus as an elf sparked a new train of thought. Robbie had known about his supernatural origins for quite some time now, even though Sportacus hadn't actually revealed it to the town yet. Remembering this detail put Robbie's mind into high gear though. He had been coming at this from the entirely wrong angle, and with renewed fervor Robbie darted through his bunker to the well hidden study and pulled out every book he had that might have some miniscule piece of information regarding elf mating rituals.  

Robbie had long known about the existence of magic and the creatures that come from it. He also knew that he possessed a small bit of magic himself, although he didn't know where the magic came from. But it was helpful when he needed it to be, such as when he was inventing or disguising himself or even if he wanted to sneak around town unnoticed. It was actually his ability to perform this magic that led to his discovery of Sportacus' heritage; the elf could always see right through Robbie's clever plans and it never failed to irritate the villain.  

He spent the next few hours researching elf lore and scouring for any bit of information that he could twist to his advantage. If he could find some weakness, some practice or phrase; something, _anything_ that he could use to drive Sportacus straight out of town and his life, then he'd consider his mission complete. He'd finally get the peace and quiet he had so longed for and he could go back to his original purpose of moving to this town.  

But after reading countless myths and legends he couldn't find anything. Oh there was the usual "the fae are bad and will steal your children" jargon and he'd found a couple passages about the type of magic that elves specifically could perform, but there was nothing about mating or courting rituals at all. Not even a footnote. Zero. Zip. Ziltch.  

With a furious roar he tipped over the folding table he'd been using to stack the books he'd already read through, and stormed back into the main room of his bunker. Seeking to get some of the rage and frustration out of his system he grabbed a hammer and a piece of sheet metal he'd been shaping and began to furiously beat at it. The result was a crude cone that he'd have to fine tune later but the work had served his purpose and he was left covered in sweat and fine metal dust, the tremors in his hands now from the exertion rather than rage.  

He left everything on his cluttered work bench and once again sank into the fluffy orange fur of his favorite chair, not even caring that he was still a disgusting mess. He was tired mentally and physically, and as he began to drift into that stage between sleep and waking, his foggy mind focused on something that he'd observed countless time but never paid very much thought to until now.  

Sportacus' always hid his ears.  

The thought made Robbie grin wickedly before finally sinking into the abyss of a dreamless sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait everyone! Robbie is fickle and very picky about how I write him. But I would expect nothing less from my favorite purple trash man <3
> 
> Also if you guys want notifications for when I update you can follow me on tumblr! My username is pizzacusshiticus and I'll be posting a link to each new chapter as I release them! :) 
> 
> Once again I can't thank you all enough for all your wonderful comments! <3


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